Ten Things You Didn't Know
by cold-malicious-fate
Summary: Ten things you didn't know, or who knows? perhaps you did, about the characters of the Gemma Doyle trilogy.


I. Gemma

1. When she was a child, Tom was her favorite. Not her mother, who she did everything with. Not her father, who favored her before her brother. But Tom, whose only concerns were getting a rich wife and becoming friends with the "people who matter". But then again, he wasn't _always_ that way.

2. Because he was her favorite, she became horribly depressed when he left to go to England. Before he boarded the ship, he promised her he would write every week and that he would come back soon. At first he kept his word, and he did write her every week. But as the months went by, he wrote less and less until he stopped altogether. And he never did come back to India.

3. Even though she denied it, she knew Father loved her more than Tom. And she absolutely loved it. After what Tom did to her, she felt he _deserved_ it.

4. She never thought she could ever forgive her mother's killer. Yet she gave Circe paradise. And she never regretted it once.

5. She always had mixed feelings about seeing Kartik in her dreams. Half of her wanted to see him so that she might be able to be with him, even if it was just for a little while, and the other half wished she could go one night without having to wake up and realize that it was, after all, just a dream.

6. She never did fall in love again. However, she did get married. John had lost his true love as well, and because they both wanted to be able to have a family, they got married. Neither was in love with the other, but they did become best friends.

7. She was actually very happy she didn't have any girl children. After she settled everything in the realms, she never again set foot in there and she didn't want to make any return trips. Besides, she loved William and James more than she could have loved any girl she might have had.

8. When she found out that Anne was happily married and Felicity had fallen in love again, she was ecstatic for them. Yet a small part of her was jealous because she wished she could find true love again. But as she looked at her family, she realized she wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.

9. There were a few times when she considered ending her own life. When she believed herself responsible for her mother's murder, when Kartik died for her, and when her husband and her eldest son died in the influenza epidemic in 1918. Losing Will was the hardest thing she had ever experienced in her life. The person she had carried inside of her for ninth months, the boy she had raised and told bedtime stories and kissed goodnight, was gone from her forever. As she watched his body being lowered into the ground, her only thought was that she wanted to jump into that casket, so she could stay with him for the rest of eternity.

10. She hadn't been into the realms for decades, but when she arrived it was like heaven. Her wrinkled skin and white hair were gone, replaced with that fiery red hair and smooth skin she hadn't seen in a long time. Her mind traveled back to those carefree days, when four girls turned flowers into butterflies and grass into rubies. She ran through the meadow where they had each discovered themselves, where their hopes and dreams were finally realized. But, of course, the meadow was not her destination. She finally made it to the river, where Pippa had made her fatal choice, and where she had saved Anne from the water nymphs, and it was there that she came face to face with Gorgon.

"Hello, Most High. They are waiting for you. They have been for a very long time."

"Thanks, Gorgon. This day has been a long time coming. Are you taking me across the river on your ship?"

"No, this is something you must do by yourself. Goodbye, Most High. Perhaps we shall meet again someday."

"Maybe we will. Goodbye, Gorgon."

But the gorgon was already sailing away on her ship, the fog surrounding it until it disappeared completely. She searched the shoreline until she saw what she had been looking for. A small boat was sitting there, as if it had been waiting there just for her. She got in and pushed off. When she felt as if she could row no longer, she saw land in the distance. And as she got even closer, she saw them. Everyone was there. Her mother, her father, Tom, her husband John and a young woman, who Gemma assumed was his long lost love: all were there. Her son Will, Felicity, and even Mrs. Nightwing, were there as well. And then she saw him, the man who she had dreamed about every night for the last 60 years. He had stepped out from the shadows, and she could see that he was smiling and calling her name. In fact, they were all calling her name! As soon as she reached the shore, she jumped out of the boat to happy faces and arms outstretched, as if in welcome.

"It's time to go, Gemma. It's time to go on," they said to her. And as they walked into the brilliant sunset, she was not fearful of her destination. Because she knew that with the people who loved her by her side, it would be alright.

* * *

**A/N: I've read a lot of these fics recently, and I wanted to do some of my own. I don't want to be one of those people who say that I won't update unless I get this many reviews, but I probably won't update unless I get at least one review. Oh, and I'll take any suggestions as to who I should do next. So anyway, thanks for reading!**


End file.
